ATHELINDA POV
The growing headache was starting to annoy me a lot that after my sword training I ended up teleporting myself to that child, Jeanette's house. She wasn't in her room but I was greatly exhausted and with my headache making it hard for me to do anything I ended up falling asleep in her bed.
I woke up when I felt someone touching me, I gripped the hand of whomever it was and looked at the wide eyes of the child looking at me.
I let go of her hand and groaned slightly as I sat up.
"Y-Your Highness?" Jeanette asked as she saw me and I looked at the bruises forming on her wrist.
I stretched my hand to her and she looked at it before placing her hand in mine. I healed her wrist and she smiled.
"I apologise for suddenly appearing in your room and... using your bed." I said running my hand through my hair.
"I-It's okay, a-are you not feeling well, though?" She asked and I sighed my headache had faded.
"I'm fine now, I just... thought of coming here since Athanasia and Dad were busy."
Her expression brightened up as I said that, Athanasia had told me that this child believed that she was Claude's biological daughter and saw me and Athanasia as her sisters.
"Th-Then, I'll be honoured to entertain you till the time you're here." She said and I leaned my back against the headrest.
"You don't need to go too far you can just talk I'll listen." I said and she giggled.
"That's what we always seem to do, Your Highness."
I stayed quiet as she sat looking at me, her expression slowly turned sad and I tilted my head to her.
"Is something the matter?"
Jeanette looked at me and in a cautious tone asked, "Princess... Wha-What would you do... if I were your real sister?"
Oh, she's really asking me that straight away.
She looked at me as if to study my reaction and I recalled what Athanasia had told me about this child. She'd grown in isolation, she was lied to all her life and to a girl like this if she really found something that would make her happy then who was I to take it away?
She turned, "I-I'm sorry for asking such stupid th-"
I lifted my hand and placed it over her head slightly ruffling her soft hair.
"P-Princess?"
"I'll go and rip the head of that person who had made your smile disappear." I answered and she looked at me before her face broke out in a bright smile.
"Th-Thank you, Princess."
I stayed by her place as she gave me a book to read while she watched me, it wasn't quite uncomfortable, rather it felt as if Athanasia was sitting in my office watching me work.
"Do you like staring at me that much?" I asked with a smile and she flinched, her cheeks going red as she looked away.
"N-No, that's not it..." I chuckled.
"Athanasia often says I am quite good-looking and that I have taken that trait from father... I believe it's an exaggeration."
"I-It's not." She spoke and looked at me clenching her fists before her, "Y-You're really beautiful, Your Highness."
This made me laugh and she kept staring at me with lips pursed and eyes determined.
"M-May I ask you something?" She spoke and I nodded.
"Go ahead."
"Y-You used to address Princess Athanasia as Athy, after that incident have you been calling Her Highness with her full name?" She asked and I was slightly taken aback.
"I... used to call her, Athy?" I mumbled and she nodded.
"Y-You even showered her with praises and smiled at her like she was your most favourite person in this world and if there was even a little bit of sadness on her face then... y-you would make a scary face until she smiled to calm you down." She explained and I contemplated over that.
I was mostly doing that even now, somehow watching that child getting sad or unhappy made me feel really angry, enough angry for me to want to kill someone. And her smile would usually calm me down even now.
"I... I guess my behaviour hasn't changed that much." I mused.
"Maybe I should just start calling her Athy again, it'll make her happy."
The child brightened up and I placed my hand on her head patting it gently.
"Thanks for this piece of information, child." She giggled as I said that.
"I-In reality, I'm a year older than Your Highness." She said and I tilted my head to one side.
For the physical form child, I'm way older than you in reality.
"Still, you seem like a child to me so I'll keep calling you that." I said making her giggle again.
She fell quiet for a while before asking me something.
"W-Will you visit me like this in future as well, Princess?" I leaned my head back.
"Maybe."
She smiled, "Please make sure to visit me, Princess. It'll make me really happy."
"I'll have to sneak out everytime then." I admitted and she giggled.
"And you'll have to keep it a secret from everyone."
"Th-Then, I'll promise you that I'll keep it a secret." She said as she came up to me with her pinky finger out.
"What is this?"
"Pinky promise." She said and I looked at her finger.
Pinky promise? Would she get her pinky chopped off if she broke her promise? Was that what this was?
"What's that?"
"Y-You don't know what's a pinky promise?" I looked at her for a moment.
"No,"
"I'll tell you," she said as she held my hand in her and brought out my pinky finger.
"You lock it around mine and hence the promise is made."
I looked as how she locked her pinky with mine, her finger was a litte smaller compared to mine and quite soft.
"Is that it?" I asked and she nodded.
"Hm, that's quite easy."
"So, this will be Your Highness' first pinky promise." She said suddenly sounding excited and I looked at my pinky.
"Well, yes." She smiled widely.
This child's smile was quite bright, just like Athanasia's, if possible I'd like to take this child's suffering away too.
I stifled a yawn and she looked at me with slight concern.
"Have you not been sleeping well?" She asked and I ran a hand through my hair.
"My headaches barely let me sleep."
"I-If it doesn't offend you then, you can sleep here for a while. I'll be very quiet and I'll look after you till you're here." She offered and I observed her genuine expression before leaning close to her.
She blinked leaning back.
"Your eyes," she gasped and she placed her hands on her eyes.
"Wha-What about them?"
I didn't say anything as Athanasia hadn't told me what to do about it, it was obvious everytime that this child was wearing something to hide her jeweled eyes. I could easily take her mana which gave her the jeweled eyes but that would be as good as snatching her identity from her.
"Nothing," I said as I lied down.
"I'll take you up for your offer then."
She smiled as she saw me relaxing and within no time I fell asleep.
I left after I woke up and found the palace in chaos once I returned.
"Princess?! Where have you been?"
"Everybody was looking for you, Ara. Couldn't you even tell me before you left?!"
"Where did you go?"
Everyone just came at me with questions and I sighed, this atmosphere was nothing like 200 years ago. People didn't care about me at that time, they simply found me so unapproachable that they wouldn't even look at me. And here.
"I'm sorry, I just felt stuffy so I went out." I said.
"Where?" Athanasia demanded.
"We looked for you everywhere, you were not in the palace grounds."
"Did you go outside somewhere?" Clau- Dad asked.
"Yes." There's no point in lying.
"What?! Bu-But, Ara!"
"Come with me." I said as I took Athanasia's hand and teleported us to her room.
"Wha-"
"I went to that child's place." I spoke making her go quiet for a moment.
"You mean, Jeanette's house?"
I nodded, "My head was hurting a lot and I couldn't wait for her to arrive so I went there instead."
"Th-Then... what happened?"
"She just talked with me a little, asked me what would I do if she were my real sister?" Athanasia gasped as I said that.
"And, what did you say?"
"She looked a little sad so I just said I'll rip the head of the one who made her sad."
A blank expression took over Athanasia's face before she asked me.
"What else did you talk about?"
"She told me how I used to be around you before I lost my memories. She told me I used to call you Athy and look at you as if you were my most favourite person in the world." I said making her look at her hands.
"What else?"
"That I'll keep visiting her if my headache grew worse." She looked up at me.
"Y-You will keep going there? What if someone sees you?"
"And what would they do if they see me?" She fell quiet as she smacked her head.
"Don't worry, she promised me that she won't tell anyone." I said and Athanasia looked at me with a tired expression.
"She taught me how to do pinky promise." I said as I looked at my pinky finger.
"Pinky promise."
"Yes, something like that wasn't in my time, when she said pinky promise I wondered if she meant that if one breaks the promise then their pinky would be chopped off or something."
Athanasia gave me a weird look but I continued as I took her hand in mine bringing her pinky up and locked mine with her.
"It's this easy." I smiled and she looked at me with a sigh.
"I can't believe you didn't know what a pinky promise is and seriously, did you really think if Jeanette was suggesting pinky promise then it would be that dangerous?!"
I scratched the back of my head as she scolded me and she sighed.
"What else did you do?"
"I slept."
"You slept there?"
"Yeah, it's been hard to sleep with the headaches so, when she was around I took a nap."
She stared at me for a few moments before she released a deep sigh.
"I really want Lucas to return quickly so that he would fix you somehow." She mumbled and my eyebrows jumped at the name.
"Lucas?"
She looked at me and then nodded, "Your best friend, the Mage."
"Mage?"
"Yes," I leaned ahead and held her hand.
"Describe him to me."
She looked a bit hesitant before she started speaking.
"Uh... He-He has black hair and red eyes." She said and a certain Mage's image flashed in my head.
"How old is he?"
"He-He said he's of our age." She said and I felt a little disappointed. So, it might not be him, he might share the same name and similiar physical attributes but he's a child.
"Lucas is a really strong Mage."
That would be the case if he was the descendant of the one who I was friends with. Did Lucas marry after I died? That bastard actually married someone and had a family? The one who found marriage and family as the most stupid things in world. I couldn't help but feel the ache in my chest this time as I envisioned Lucas smiling at another girl, having a child with her, watching his child grow and it somehow made me feel even more bitter.
I shook my head shoving away those thoughts, I shouldn't care of the past matters now except for Athernitas. Lucas had his own life and now I have my own.
"So, where is he? I haven't seen him around." I asked.
"He's gone to get the fruit of the Sacred World Tree." She answered and I looked at her.
A child? Even if he was Lucas' descendant he was strong enough to go to the realm of the World Tree?
"Sounds impressive." I mumbled and she looked at me.
"W-Well, you two seem pretty close with the teasing and the touching."
"Touching?"
"Yeah, well, you let him hug you and you also hit him so..."
That sounded pretty much like normal friendship. I and my time's Lucas were quite touchy too, we'd usually fight and fall asleep together so, it was fine for friends to be close.
"Well, I'd like to see this child then. Hope he returns alive." I said and Athanasia looked at me as if trying to figure something out.
After two days, Jeanette came to the palace and she, I and Athy sat in my room playing chess. I ended up falling asleep midway while those two chatted.
After that day, I went to Jeanette's house since my head started pounding again and it was almost unbearable.
"Ah, you're here again, Princess!"
My headache disappeared as soon as I was in the presence of that child.
I looked around her room to see various stuffed toys and she told me that she used to play with them when she used to feel lonely.
While looking around I spotted a small castle in the glass globe. She smiled as she stood beside me.
"Our guest gave it to me as a gift." She said.
"Isn't it really pretty?" She looked at it smiling as she placed her fingers on the glass.
"Do the girls of your age like this kind of gifts?" I asked, in my time something like this didn't exist.
Jeanette giggled as I said that, "You're of the same age, Princess. Why do you suddenly sound like an adult at times?"
I sighed, I couldn't just tell her that I was actually an adult if I added the years.
"And, yes. We do like such pretty gifts." She answered and I nodded.
I had seen a lot of luxurious items in Athy's room but there weren't any toys like this castle-in-glass-globe thing. Maybe I should give her some, she did like the trinkets that I gave her.
After talking about some more things for a while I fell asleep again while Jeanette stayed awake reading a book as she sat beside me.
I woke up as I heard the sound of someone knocking the door.
"Jeanette?" I heard a familiar voice and I opened my eyes looking as Jeanette was panicking.
I snapped my fingers and gestured her to open the door while I lay in my place.
She went over and opened the door. I spotted a familiar looking boy standing at the door asking if he could come inside.
"Uh..."
"Let him in, he won't see me." I told her telepathically and she allowed him in.
I saw the white haired boy whom I'd seen at Dad's birthday banquet, the one who stood up to me for Athy's hand for a dance. So, he lived here?
"D-Do you need something, Ijekiel?" Jeanette asked as she walked inside with him.
"I hadn't seen you in these couple of days so, I dropped by. I'm sorry I've been busy with a lot of work." He said and Jeanette smiled.
"It's okay, I'm fine."
"I heard you were frequently being called at the palace by Princess Amara." I saw Jeanette's eyes going over to me.
I'd only casted an invisiblity spell for the boy.
"Yes..."
"How is her health now?"
"I-It's good."
He sighed hearing that, wait, was this child worried about me?
"And, what about His Majesty and Princess Athanasia?"
"They're well too."
"Do you get to talk with His Majesty?"
"Not quite often but he usually comes sometimes when I am meeting with the Princesses."
Ijekiel nodded before he spoke, "Father mentioned that you are going to see them tomorrow as well?"
"Yes."
He nodded, "Then go and return safely."
"I will."
With that said, Ijekiel stood up and left the room and Jeanette sighed a breath of relief.
I snapped my fingers again and looked at her.
"That child... He lives here too."
Jeanette looked at me and then smiled, "He's 18 years old, Your Highness..."
"So? He's still a boy."
She smiled as she sighed before she spoke, "He... is my cousin."
"Distant one?"
"Kind of."
I didn't say anything further and just closed my eyes going back to sleep.
The next day I was in palace and Jeanette sat before me and Dad, he didn't know I had been sneaking to her place.
Whenever Dad was around we didn't talk much but since even he wasn't sleeping well, he would fall asleep as soon as I dozed off.
Just like now, I could feel his head resting over mine and his breathing to be rhythmic. It was like we were connected.
***
Hello everyone!
How is everyone? I'm just a bit... Meh... I'm not really high or low.
Anyways, how did you find this chapter?
I'm so grateful for all of your votes and comments, they really make me happy. Honestly, I check the notifications multiple times to see your comments hehe...
Ahem... Lucas is close by so please endure for a little more while guys.
Have a great day everyone!